Mobile Gaming Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Mobile Gaming Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Mobile Gaming Market is expected to register a CAGR of 12.5% during the forecast period, 2022 - 2027. COVID-19 has impacted how the world does business; however, the gaming industry has been positively affected due to pandemics. During these challenging times, the role of the mobile gaming industry was to help people get some relief. Mobile games have the power to reduce stress and provide some entertainment and social connection, which was much needed, especially during the global quarantine.

• Throughout 2020 and 2021, many changes occurred in the mobile game development department. Consequently, game brands have spent more on advertising investment to attract more users and corner sufficient market share. However, one effective way to reduce the development process cost is to conduct an early CTR (click-through rate) test. This is especially true if one is in the hyper-casual game sector of the mobile game industry.
• The gaming industry worldwide is expanding, and smartphones play a significant role in this expansion. The development of mobile games has resulted in scalability for the gaming industry. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have also started to develop innovative mobile games to ensure high product differentiation and benefit from engaging games to enhance their advertisement strategies.
• Smartphone hardware capabilities have rapidly increased during the last couple of years. According to Unity Technologies, the better mobile chipsets provide greater performance with less battery drain, powering higher screen resolutions on display sizes that now average 6 inches. Furthermore, according to Ericsson, 5G allowed for incredible speeds (20 x 4G) and low latency (20 ms to 5 ms). Because of that, the market sees more and more high-production-value AAA-quality mobile games.
• Despite geopolitical tensions, the growing smartphone penetration and increasing gaming options are also increasing the mobile gaming penetration in many parts of the world. For instance, according to White Designers Game Studios, in Iran, with a population of 82 million and a smartphone penetration rate of about 35% (in 2018), there are more than 30 million active mobile gaming players in the country.
• In-game purchase, i.e., the option to purchase additional privileges within the games, is a significant revenue-generating channel for the mobile gaming industry. The flexibility for in-game payment methods also facilitates the growth of mobile gaming revenues worldwide.
• Further, cloud gaming services leverage hyper-scale cloud capabilities, global content delivery networks, and streaming media services to build the next generation of platforms for interactive, immersive, and social entertainment. The proliferation of edge data centers in the country also facilitates the accelerated growth of mobile gaming globally.

• The mobile gaming business has gained scalability due to the emergence of android mobile games. Platforms like Netflix, Facebook, and Instagram have begun to feature android mobile games before iOS to leverage compelling games to improve their advertising tactics due to maximum Android users.
• In November 2021, Netflix started rolling out its mobile video games to Android users where the subscribers have the option of playing five different games on the app, including "Stranger Things: 1984," "Stranger Things 3: The Game," "Shooting Hoops," "Card Blast," and "Teeter Up."
• According to 42matters.com, there are more than 19,323 games from Indian publishers on Google Play out of the 439,892 games. Moreover, 4% of all mobile games on Google Play are from Indian publishers. More minor games, such as LudoKing, Teen Patti, Indian Rummy, and Carrom King, are among the most popular games in the Play Store.
• In November 2021, GameAnalytics launched HyperBid, a mobile games mediation platform based on android. The analytics platform GameAnalytics stated that HyperBid is a new mediation platform engineered explicitly for mobile game publishers and developers. HyperBid is currently in the open beta phase. GameAnalytics indicated they had built HyperBid with analytics at the forefront using Game Analytics' market intelligence.
• Further, in July 2021, Trading Master 3D - Fidget Pop was the most-downloaded gaming app in the Google Play Store worldwide. The fidget toy trading title generated more than 22.05 million downloads from Android users (source: Airnow PLC).

• In United States, mobile phone gaming is a burgeoning industry, and one of the largest game publishers is based there. According to 42Matters, out of the 161,440 game publishers on Google Play, more than 8,797 are American companies. Lion Studios, Imangi Studios, Ivy, Play365, Lowtech Studios, Roblox Corporation, i6 Games, DVloper, Oppana Games, and Niantic Inc. are some of the most well-known American publishers. United States accounts for 5% of all game publishers on Google Play.
• According to 42Matters, paid games account for 13% of all games published in United States. Paid mobile games have a more significant value than paid games in general, which account for 4% of all games. Ads appear in 67% of games published in United States. This is a lower figure compared to the rest of the globe, where 73% of games contain advertisements. In-app payments are used to monetize 35% of games published in United States. This is greater than the national average of 21% of games.
• Amidst COVID-19, the mobile game industry has been one sector that witnessed a huge boost. With vast portions of the US population quarantined at home, the demand for games to provide entertainment has increased.
• The steady incline in 5G mobile networks in the country is expected to drive the surge in the adoption of mobile gaming as performance constraints associated with low wireless bandwidth and high latency will decrease. In August 2020, the White House and Defense Department announced a plan to accelerate 5G adoption by making more spectrum available to the telecoms, earlier used for high-power defense radar.
• Moreover, telecoms are working to determine how well their networks support the requirements of shifting potentially billions of gamers onto streaming services. All three major operators in United States, i.e., AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and T-Mobile, have begun working with cloud gaming companies, such as PlayGiga, Hatch, and Microsoft Xbox Game Pass, to test and develop services, including bundling deals that offer mobile data packages alongside subscriptions.

The Mobile Gaming Market is competitive in nature because of the presence of major players like Tencent Holdings Limited, Activision Blizzard, Inc, and Zynga, Inc., among others. Major companies are developing advanced technologies and launching new products to stay competitive in the market.

• July 2021- Gamestacy announced its partnership with Beamable to launch influencer, a unique social, Multiplayer mobile game. This soft launch is anticipated to usher in new options for gender-specific games in the rapidly growing mobile games market.
• May 2021- NetEase announced the launch of new games for their diverse portfolio of mobile and contained updates for over 60 products at its Seventh Annual Product Launch.

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